Updates about ASEAN Open Pairs

Date: Third day in Manila.

Event: Mixed Pairs (which zehan and i happily did not need to take part)

Let me update about the ASEAN Open Pairs that took place yesterday, which compromised of the afternoon and evening sessions. Overall, it was riddled with little mistakes which could have been avoided, but these are points where we know we can learn from. (Since we are in the process of learning and re-learning about our play and defence)

The first session ended well... Though some mistakes could have been avoided (1st session with zehan)... but did badly in a board where the opps psyche and i failed to cover the 10 in dummy, resulting in 5D= for the opps where it shld be cold down 2 by the normal lead of A, K spade and a small spade for ruff? This in fact acted as a wake-up call for us as we moved to the next board.

East-west = us (non-vul against vul)

Sitting east and as the dealer, I'm dealt these hand:-

AK984

A76432

Q

8

Oh! What a hand! A 5-loser hand, with a beautiful 6-5 shape and 11 of 13 pts in the main suits, it may appeal to some as a 'reverse' strong hand. However, looking at this hand, I decided that I shall call 1S first in the event where there might be a mis-fit and thus I will show my 'second' suit at a cheap level. This might cost though, if my partner had 3 hearts and 2 spades. But, this will come at an advantage when opps interfere and my heart suit can be afforded to be announced (given that opps interference is most likely in the minor suits)

And this move paid off. South passes, and my p bids 2S. North comes in with 3C and here comes the bid 3H. In the event when West had both heart and spade support, 3S will be an awkward bid esp given my p's strength is 6-8 pts. Next comes 5C and my partner, seeing a double fit in hearts and spades passes, allowing me to decide. My hand with so much offensive values, will certainly not tolerate that. A 5H bid here shows 6 spades and 5 hearts, and without any doubt, my partner raises me to 6S on a maximum of 8 pts! Of course, with so little high-card values, South doubles.

And South is supposed to lead from this hand:-

652

10

AK82

J6542

An A dime lead sees the dummy as follows:-

Q109x

KJxx

xxx

xx

... and the Queen dime fell. North of course played a low card, showing a discouraging signal. South is supposed to lead again. the question is:- a dime continuation or a club? East could easily be a 6-5-2-0 hand a the club lead may give away a ruff, while queen dime play here from doubleton by East is common to dissuade North from cashing his winning trick. With this mentality, East continued with a dime and 6S doubled makes! A nice yet hard-earned top board!

With this board, our confidence swung up and it was to no surprise that we were in fact leading our section at the break...

Boards to be discussed for the second half:-

My Mistakes:-

Board 1: 2NT+1 by opps

Board 4: 2Hx-4 by me (corresponds to my p's blog name ya?)

Nice boards played:-

Board 18: 6S=

Board 24: 6C+1 (how come not top?)